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In October of 2014, Xavier was diagnosed with a rare genetic immune deficiency. At that time, Xavier’s family were considered a moderate income family with both parents employed in jobs they loved and were busy raising three children; Mya 11, Higinio 8, and Xavier 2.
Xavier was born early and after months of struggling with small reactions to immunizations, he had a very rare reaction to the chicken pox vaccine. At that time, he was 13 months old. He fought the virus for 2 months and at his 15 month check up, his parents decided to give him one more shot but again he had a reaction. It was then that his parents knew something was wrong. After some blood work, Xavier...

Carter is a full-time student at University of California, Santa Cruz. This past summer, Carter’s mother took him to urgent care with a horrible headache. After a month in the hospital, getting multiple brain biopsies, the doctor found germ cell turmors in the pineal region of his brain. These types of cells are very rare (3-5% of cancer patients) for someone at such a young age. While he was in the hospital, he had a stroke that had some lasting impact on his body. Carter has gone through 3 surgeries to remove the Germ cell tumors and is showing positives signs to recovery.
Carter moved back home with his mother because he needed full-time medical care. His mother is...

Mikayla is a beautiful 13 years old who loves basketball, volleyball, dance and music. She has been fighting cancer since she was 2 years old. In 2004, Mikayla was diagnosed with Fibrosarcoma in her right mandibular jaw. The doctors had to remove a significant amount of her jaw to eliminate the cancerous cells. In 2007, Mikayla had another tumor removed from her tibia and she underwent radiation. In 2012, Mikayla was diagnosed with Papillary Thyroid cancer when she received radioactive iodine treatment. To have radioactive iodine treatment, you are admitted into the isolation unit at the hospital. The treatment makes you slightly radioactive for a few days until...

Alex is an inspiration to all of us. Despite the fact that he has been battle cancer for the last 3 years, he has dedicated his life to reducing his carbon footprint. He has selflessly voluntarily worked numerous hours in East San Jose as his passion remains to have a clean environment for his neighbors to enjoy. He has focused his attention on recycling glass, plastic and aluminum. He has also composted his backyard and is growing vegetables. He believes in self-sustainability and has worked towards reducing his water usage. The City of San Jose and Mayor Sam Liccardo commended his effort by giving Alex the SAVE THE PLANT award.
This has not been easy because his...

Jesse is 22 years old. When Jesse was born he had multiple medical complications: cerebral palsy, epilepsy, craniosynostosis, requiring 2 operations on his head, and other problematic medical issues calling for many procedures over the years. When Jesse was 4 years old, he received his first kidney transplant. The transplant was a success and Jesse was relatively healthy until he turned 21 when his kidneys began to fail again and he needed a second kidney transplant. ￼￼￼
In May 2015, Jesse was admitted to the hospital with a virus, which was difficult to cure because Jesse’s immune system is compromised. He received IV medications twice daily but the virus...

Alejandro is 12 years old and is a liver transplant survivor. He was diagnosed with biliary atresia, a life-threatening condition in infants in which the bile ducts inside or outside the liver do not have normal openings resulting in the liver transplant. After the transplant, his mom started to notice some behavioral issues. Doctors tested Alejandro ammonia levels in his brain which were extremely elevated. High levels of ammonia can be very dangerous causing comas or even death. Alejandro’s ammonia levels are very inconsistent; as high as 85 where 15 is the normal level. Alejandro is taking medication to keep the levels down but it can take 6-9 months to bring the...